Recoil system for furnace charger

ABSTRACT

A fumes controlling hood for a melting furnace, the hood being constructed and arranged to rest on the furnace top to envelop the upwardly-opening furnace mouth and to open or close a lateral entry to the interior of the hood, a part of the hood roof opposite such entry being slidable toward and away from the entry and providing an abutment conforming to a portion of a charging bucket admissible into the hood through the entry, and a spring arrangement for yieldably resisting movement of such hood roof part away from the entry.

7 United States Patent 1191 1111 3,918,691 Overmyer [4 Nov. 11, 1975 [5RECOIL SYSTEM FOR FURNACE 2.908.737 /1959 DOmllliCiS 266/3] )1 CHARGER3.415.179 12/1968 SChCCi 3.756.582 9/1973 Overmyer et a1. 266/15 [75]Inventor: Robert C. Overmyer, Indianapolis.

Primary Evanliner-Granville Y. Custer. Jr. [73] A i H l M f t iCorporationq Assistant Evcuniner-Paull A. Bell Indianapolis, Alto/716).Agent. 01' Firm-William R. Coffey 77 Filed. May 28, 1974 [57] ABSTRACTPP 473332 A fumes controlling hood for a melting furnace. the hood beingconstructed and arranged to rest on the 52 s C] 266/16; 98/1 15 214/18SC furnace top to envelop the upwardly-opening furnace [51] Int. Cl.C2lC 5/40 mouth and to Open or Close lateral entry to the 158 Field OfSearch 98/115 R: 141/284. 326: "fthehwd roof Opposite Such 214 R 18 v 18266/15, 16 33 R, 33 entry being slidable toward and away from the entry5 and providing an abutment conforming to a portion of a charging bucketadmissible into the hood through [56] References Cited the entry. and aspring arrangement for yieldably re- UNITED STATES PATENTS sistingmovement of such hood roof part away from the entrv. 2.268.918 1/1942Allan et al. 266/15 2.377.597 6/1945 Wilson et al 266/16 2 Chums. 4Drawlng Figures 5| y! II i l 1 1 I,/ 54 i /22 x 1 l 1 I l9 5 2 US.Patent Nov. 11, 1975 Sheet 1 of2 3,918,691

US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,918,691

RECOIL SYSTEM FOR-FURNACE CHARGER The present invention relates to animprovement in furnace hoods generally of the character disclosed in US.Pat. No. 3,756,582 issued Sept. 4, 1973. The prie mary object of theinvention isto provide a resilient bumper or recoil system in the roofof such a hood and opposite a lateral opening constructed and designedto permit lateral entry of a charging bucket to the interior of the hoodand to a position in registry with the upwardly-opening mouth of thefurnace, the recoil system being designed to absorb any lateral momentumof the bucket and to return the bucket, after any over-ride of thefurnace mouth, to accurate registry with that mouth. A further object ofthe invention is to provide novel means for the above purpose, includinga sliding roof section carrying a depending skirt for conformingengagement by the bucket, said skirt carrying pad means on its outersurface for engagement with bumper pins within the hood and providedwith spring means resisting outward movement of the bumper pins.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the descriptionproceeds.

To the accomplishment of theabove and related objects, my invention maybe embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings,attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings areillustrative only, and that change may be made in the specificconstruction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of theappended claims is not violated.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a hood constructed in accordance with thepresent invention, parts being broken away for clarity of illustration;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section of a subframe carrying the bumper pins;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a reduced section illustrating the association of the hoodwith the furnace mouth and showing a charging bucket in its positionassumed when the bumper pins have been driven back to compress theirassociated springs.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, FIG. 4 fragmentarilysuggests a conventional melting furnace 10 having a top 11 and anupwardly opening mouth 12. conventionally, the mouth 12 is provided witha laterally swingable lid (not shown) as illustrated at 16 in FIGS. 1and 2 of said US. Pat. No. 3,756,582.

A hood is indicated generally by the reference numeral 13 in FIG. 1, theinterior of said hood being suitably connected, as by a conduit 14, to asource of vacuum (not shown).

The hood is formed to provide a roof l and depending perimetral sidewalls 16 which are adapted to rest on the furnace top 11, the bottom ofthe hood being open so that the hood, when in place, envelops the openmouth 12 of the furnace.

A section 17 of the hood roof, with its corresponding sections of sidewalls, is hinged at 18 to the body of the hood 13 so that said section17 may be swung, about the hinge axis 18, between its solid lineposition and its dotted line position in FIG. 1. Similarly, an adjacentsection 19 of the roof, with its depending side wall sections, is hingedat 20 to the main body of the hood to swing between its solid lineposition and its broken line position. Obviously, when the sections 17and 19 are swung to their broken line positions, a lateral entry 21 tothe interior of the hood is opened.

Rectilinear flange means 22 is supported on the hood roof to define,with said roof, a guide slot 23 (FIG. 3). A similar flange 24 (FIG. 1)defining a mating guide slot is secured to the hood roof in facingrelation to the slot 23, and a roof section 25 has its opposite edgesguidingly received in said slots for reciprocation in a line generallyopposite the entry 21.

A depending skirt 26 (FIG. 3) is secured to move with the roof section25 and bumper pads 27 and 28 are suitably secured to the flange 26 topresent, toward the rear of the hood, flat faces 29 and 30 preferablydisposed in a common vertical plane. I

In FIG. 2, I have illustrated a subframe indicated generally by thereference numeral 31 and disposed within the hood behind the skirt 26.Said subframe preferably comprises uprights 32 and 33, horizontal beams34 and 35, connectors 36 and 37 and posts'38 and 39. Preferably, theposts will be wide flange I-beams as is most clearly illustrated in FIG.1.

A housing 40 is secured to the post 38 near the top thereof and isformed to provide a sliding, substantially horizontal guide way for abumper pin 41 which, at its distal end, is formed to provide abumperhead 42; and a coiled compression spring 43 is confined betweenthe bumper head 42 and the distal end of. the housing 40, thus alwaysresisting inward, or right-hand, movement of the pin 41. It will beclear that thebumper head 42 is aligned with the pad surface 29.

Similarly, a similarhousing 44 is secured near the upper end of the post39 and provides a substantailly horizontal guide way for a similar pin45 having-a bumper head 46 registering with the surface.30. A coiledspring 47 is confined between the bumper head 46 and the distal end ofthe housing 44, thus resisting rearward, or right-hand, movement of theskirt 26 as viewed in FIG. 1.

The hood roof is formed with an opening sized, shaped and located toconform to a conventional charging bucket 48 (FIG. 4) which is suitablysupported as, for instance, at 49 for movement by, for instance, a crane(not shown). Such an opening is formed partly in the sections 17 and 19and'partly in the section 25. The furnace mouth 12 is normally closed bya movable lid (not shown) which is movable into and out of closingposition by an oscillable post 50; while a cover 51 for the hood roofopening is mounted for movement about the axis of said post to and fromclosing relation with said roof opening. The cover 51 is formed with anopening 52 which receives a pin 53 carried by the furnace lidpreliminary to swinging movement of the lid, whereby the cover isentrained to swing with the lid, all as is fully disclosed in said priorUS. Pat. No. 3,756,582. The roof of the hood is formed with an arcuateslot 54 to accommodate movement of pin 53.

During melting and heat treatment of a charge, the furnace lid rests onand closes the mouth 12 and the roof cover 51 closes the opening throughthe hood roof, the pins 41 and 45 being in their fully extendedpositions whereby the roof section 25 and the skirt 26 will besubstantially in their forwardmost positions. When it is desired tointroduce a charge into the furnace, the post 50 is manipulated to liftthe furnace lid, thus pushing the pin 52 into the opening 53 of thecover 51. Now, when the post 50 is turned in a counterclockwisedirection as illustrated in FIG. 1, the cover 51 will be entrained withthe furnace lid and willbe swung into the dotted line position ofFIG. 1. Thereby, an opening registering with the 'furnace mouth 12 andformed partly in the sections'l7 and 19 and partly in the section 25.,will be exposed.

Now, the sections 17 and 19 are swung into their broken line' positions,thus providing a path whereby the bucket 48 may be laterally moved, inthe direction of the arrow 55, inwardly into the hood and toward theflange 26.

Usually, the bucket will be chain-suspended from a crane and, as thecrane arm or carriage is decelerated, the bucket 48 will tend by inertiato move ahead of the suspending cable or chain. Thus, when the cranestops, the bucket will tend to continue to move.

As the bucket attains registry with the furnace mouth 12, it willencounter and tend to entrain the flange 26. The pad surfaces 29 and 30being in contact with the bumper heads 42 and 46, such entrainments willdrive the pins 41 and 45 rearwardly against the tendency of theirsprings 43 and 47. Those springs will absorb the momentum of the bucketas the bucket moves in the direction of the arrow 56 in FIGS. 3 and 4,and thereaf ter will return the bucket, in the direction of the arrow57, to true registry with the furnace mouth 12.

Of course, the roof section 25 participates in the above-describedmovements of the skirt 26.

It will be immediately apparent that, if the skirt 26 is continuedupwardly significantly above the hood roof, the crane operator mayalternatively swing the bucket 48 horizontally at an elevation above theroof. The bucket will encounter the upward extension of the skirt andthe pins 41 and 45 and springs 43 and 47 will perform their snubbingfunction in a similar way, whereupon the bucket may be verticallylowered through the roof opening to the position of FIG. 4.

I claim as my invention:

1. For use with a melting furnace having an upwardly opening mouth, ahood constructed and arranged to rest on the top of such a furnace inenveloping relation l to said mouth, said hood including upstanding sidewalls and a roof closing the top of said hood, said hood having at leastone section hingedly supported from the major portion of said hood toswing outwardly from said major portion to open a lateral entry to aposition within said hood registering with said mouth, said entry beingproportioned and designed to afford entry of a charging bucket to suchregistering position, said one section including a section of said roofand a correthe axis of said mouth, and spring means yieldably re.

sisting movement of said last-named section away from said axis.

2. The hood of claim 1 in which said last-named sec 7 tion includes adepending skirt shaped to engage and conform to a side wall of such abucket, circumferentially-spaced pad means carried by said skirt andpresenting flat faces'away from said axis, and in which said springmeans comprises a pair of spaced posts carried on the inner surface ofsaid hood wall opposite said entry, a first bumper pin carried by one ofsaid posts and registering with one of said pads, a second bumper pincarried by the other of said posts and registeringwith the other of saidpads, and a spring for each of said pins yieldably resisting movement ofits pin away from said axis.

1. For use with a melting furnace having an upwardly opening mouth, ahood constructed and arranged to rest on the top of such a furnace inenveloping relation to said mouth, said hood including upstanding sidewalls and a roof closing the top of said hood, said hood having at leastone section hingedly supported from the major portion of said hood toswing outwardly from said major portion to open a lateral entry to aposition within said hood registering with said mouth, said entry beingproportioned and designed to afford entry of a charging bucket to suchregistering position, said one section including a section of said roofand a corresponding section of said side walls, another section of saidroof substantially opposite said entry being mounted for slidingmovement toward and away from the axis of said mouth, and spring meansyieldably resisting movement of said last-named section away from saidaxis.
 2. The hood of claim 1 in which said last-named section includes adepending skirt shaped to engage and conform to a side wall of such abucket, circumferentially-spaced pad means carried by said skirt andpresenting flat faces away from said axis, and in which said springmeans comprises a pair of spaced posts carried on the inner surface ofsaid hood wall opposite said entry, a first bumper pin carried by one ofsaid posts and registering with one of said pads, a second bumper pincarried by the other of said posts and registering with the other ofsaid pads, and a spring for each of said pins yieldably resistingmovement of its pin away from said axis.